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THE COTTAGE 

of 

DAVID BURNES 

and its 

DINING-ROOM 
2VLANTEL 



JAMES FRANKLIN HOOD 



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THE COTTAGE OF DAVID BURNES 
ETCHED BY W. H WALLACE 



;ARTIST'S PROOF) 



The Cottage of David Burnes 
and its Dining-Room Mantel 

A SKETCH 

Read to the Columbia Historical Society 
Washington, D. C. 

February 25. 1919 



by 



JAMES FRANKLIN HOOD 

a charter member of the Society and 

Curator from its Organization 



WASHINGTON 
Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen 



Ccmpl'itnenH oF 



•Hi^n J<itncv3 '["rdtikrn) i^ooJ 



>0 



-T^Iil-: WRITER has printed a few copies of this 
sketch for presentation to friends, front-paged 
hv a practically unknown etching from a i)rivate plate 
made by William 11. Wallace, of T.edfortl Park, 
New York, about 1896, from views taken before 
that date. Observe the signature of the artist in 
the left-hand lower corner, in reverse. He writes 
that the building in the left distance was drawn to 
show in outline the VanNess mansion. 

An effective picture of the cottage in its final stage, 
and possibl}- its last authentic portrait, from an unpub- 
lished photograph by T. A. Mullet, of Washington, 
made in 1894, is shown with his i)erniission. 



ADDRESSING Mr. Allen C. Clark, President of 
the Society, Mr. Hood said : 

Mr. President, you have asked me to write some- 
thing more about David Burnes. After your admir- 
al)le paper on "General John Peter J^anNess, a Mayor 
of Washington, his wife Marcia, and her father 
Pai'id Burnes." presented to us in November last, T 
must regard your request as a high compHment. 
There is so Httle of interest or vahie to l)e added to 
what you have already told that I shall confine my 
brief remarks to the much talked of "cottage" and 
to what became of it. 




w 



HEN THR Congress of the United States 
in 1700, after long and weary public 
debate and much private negotiation, deter- 
mined that the future Fetleral City should be built 
on the Potomac River, David Burnes was the owner 
of a productive farm on the site selected for the new 
Capital of the United States. His land holdings ex- 
tended from a i)oint on or near the river front not 
far from what is now the foot of New York Avenue, 
northeasterly almost along the line of that avenue 
through the site of the White House to another point 
a little beyond and south of the present Public Library. 
Thence his line ran down Sixth Street almost to 
Pennsylvania Avenue, then by irregular lines to the 
middle of the Botanical Gardens, and then by other 
irregular lines back to the river. His was by much 
the largest farm within the limits of the present City 
of Washington. It included the land whereon is now 
the Pan-American Building, Continental Hall, the 
Corcoran Art Gallery, the greater part of the \\'hite 
House grounds, the Treasury Department, the Hotel 
Washington, The New Willard, the Municipal Build- 
ing, the Raleigh, St. Patrick's Church, the Washing- 
ton Loan and Trust Company, the Patent Office, the 
old Post Office Department, the Bank of Washington, 
the Center Market and the entire Smithsonian and 
Monument grounds. Some farm. 



THE COTTAGE OF DAVID BURNES 

Mr. Biirnes was of Scotch descent and understood 
the ways of the world. Before the acquisition of his 
farm by the United States its owner Hved in a modest 
cottage on its extreme western edge whereon is now 
the Pan-American Building. The cottage was of 
frame on a brick foundation, about forty feet front 
by twenty feet in depth, one and one-half stories in 
height, with living-room, dining-room and a small 
bedroom on the first floor; two bedrooms with dormer 
windows on the second floor, and a spacious cellar 
under the entire house, with supporting wooden posts. 
The cellar was of unusual size and depth, which is to 
be noted because the land at that point lies low and 
in those days, and for many years after, an extra- 
ordinary rise of the river would flood any cellar in 
the neighborhood. Don't forget the cellar. The 
kitchen, according to the custom of the time, was 
probably a separate building nearby, which has long 
since disappeared. 

There is every reason to believe that the house was 
built before the Revolutionary War; whether by David 
or Ijy one of his ancestors I have not ascertained, 
l)ut here he lived and cultivated his broad acres until 
they became a part of the future National Capital. 
On the laying out of the city streets Mr. Burnes ex- 
pressly stipulated that his home should not be dis- 
turbed and this agreement was faithfully kept. 

The building faced south by a few degrees east, 
a short distance east and south of the center of the 
square, which was afterwards officially designated on 
the city plats as square "south of square one hundred 
and seventy-three," containing about six acres. Here 
his son John and his daughter Marcia were born, the 



8 



AND ITS DINING-ROOM MANTEL 

latter May 9, 1782, and here was she reared until about 
twelve or thirteen years of age. She was then placed 
in a school in Baltimore and provided with a home 
in the refined and dignified household of the Hon. 
Luther Martin, of that city, one of Maryland's great- 
est statesmen. After an absence of about five seasons 
she returned to her father's cottage. 

David Burnes died in his home May 7, 1799. 
Marcia continued to live there until her marriage on 
her twentieth birthday. May 9, 1802, to the Hon. John 
Peter VanNess, a Member of Congress from the City 
of New York. 

This : 

(From the Washington Evening Star, Se])teml)er 8, 

1918, by J. Harry Shannon, writing under the 

pen-name "The Rambler.") 

" *The Rambler' believes that the marriage of Marcia 
TUirncs was solemnized in the small and humble cottage 
which had been her birthplace and her home, and 
which stood a ruin until a few years ago in the grounds 
occupied by the Pan-American Building. Marcia's 
affection for that humble home is shown by the fact 
that when John P. VanNess, her husband, decided to 
build the finest house in the District of Columbia, that 
house was built in the grounds around the cottage 
and within a few yards of it. The stately mansion 
and the small cottage stood almost side by side for 
close upon one hundred y^ars." 

In Jonathan Elliot's book entitled the "Ten Miles 
Square," ])ublished in 1830. is a glowing description 
of the completed mansion which (says he) : "standing 
in the center of the square, built in a style of the 



THE COTTAGE OF DAVID BURNES 

finest architecture, near the President's house, is prob- 
ably not excelled by any private building in the coun- 
try. The grounds, in addition to their lofty, dignified, 
paternal trees, are abundantly supplied with the best 
native and foreign fruits, including figs and grapes, 
and adorned with a great variety of ornamental shrubs 
and plants, hedges, gravel walks, vines and bowers. 
The solidity, elegance and convenience, throughout 
the whole of the buildings and other improvements of 
this spot, combined with the natural beauty of loca- 
tion, justly excite great interest and admiration. The 
entrance to this walled-square is through an iron gate 
between two lodges at the northeast angle fronting on 
Seventeenth Street and the President's Square. 
Thence there is a winding carriage-wa}' skirted by 
ornamental trees, shrubbery and flowers, ascending 
an artificial mound at the north front of the house, and 
passing under an elegant, projecting stone portico at 
the door. This portico is the first of the kind, if not 
the only one, excepting that recently erected at the 
President's House, in the United States." 

General VanNess, as may be supposed, entertained 
lavishly in his wonderful home and all the great people 
of the day were his guests. But Marcia's heart was 
not in the new magnificence ; rather was it in the 
old home, in which it is said she fitted a room for re- 
tirement and meditation. I do not here go into an 



b^ 



ly 



details of her subsequent sorrows or her well-known 
charities. They have been written. She died Sep- 
tember 9, 1832, and was followed by her husband 
March 7, 184^/ 

After the death of General VanNess the property 
passed into the hands of strangers, who, after a pre- 



10 



THE COTTAGE OF DAVID BURNES 
PHOTOGRAPH E,D BY T. A. MULLET 



AND ITS DINING-ROOM MANTEL 

tence of restoration and preservation, entirely ne- 
glected it. The condition of both cottage and mansion 
became deplorable. Moss in thick masses grew on the 
roof of the cottage, and in evidence of the disgrace 
into which it fell a much-used target for pistol prac- 
tice ornamented its front door. The once beautiful 
mansion passed into grievous decay; its windows and 
doors were battered and broken ; its walls were de- 
faced ; its Italian marbles were cracked and thrown 
about; its stairways were mutilated; thieves broke in 
and devastated as they cliose : it became the abode 
of bats. 



\3 



THE COTTAGE OF DAVID BURNES 

THE COLUMBIA ATHLETIC CLUB was 
at one time a great organization. In its 
best (lays the names of more than one 
thousand members were on its roll. Its home 
was on G Street N.W., now owned and occupied by 
the Young Men's Christian Association. Analostan 
Island in the Potomac River was well nigh covered 
with its ball fields, tennis courts, running track, grand 
stand and all the paraphernalia incident to active exer- 
cise in the out-of-doors. In 1892 it was compelled to 
give up the Island and it engaged for the following 
season the VanXess Square, sometimes called VanNess 
Park. Prof. John T. Crossley, the Club's Director 
of Athletics, is my authority for saying that the last 
spring games of the Club on Analostan Island were 
held June 4, 1892, and that the Club's workmen l:)roke 
ground for the new athletic field in the following 
spring. 

The mansion did not seriously interfere with the 
new l)all ground, but unfortunately the cottage stood 
well toward the center of it. The Club considered 
removing it to the west side of the scjuare, where it 
would be out of the way, or, with the permission of the 
War Department, to carry it across Seventeenth Street 
to the White House grounds. Individuals became in- 
terested in the fate of the ancient relic, the oldest 
house in Washington, and came to inspect and inquire. 
Mr. J. Paul Smith, a well-known builder, was com- 
missioned by the late Gardiner Greene Hubbard to ex- 
amine the structure and report upon the feasibility of 
removing it to his country-seat, "Twin Oaks." Mr. 
Smith's report was to the effect that the old house was 
so far gone that it would not survive the journey. I 



14 



AND ITS DINING-ROOM MANTEL 

have l)een told that the Hon. Alexander B. Ilagner. 
long a Justice of the Supreme Court of the District 
of Columbia, and for years President of this Society, 
went to see it and is (juoted as saying after his visit 
that '"he found neither the decayed cottage nor any- 
thing within it a subject for veneration or respect." 

Thus matters stood during the summer and fall of 
1893 while the workmen were clearing the land of 
trees and undergrowth and laying out for the Athletic 
Club its tracks and courts for the season of 1894. 
The cottage was still on the ground in the spring of 
1894, no disposition having been made of it. About 
the 20th of May of that year occurred a local thun- 
derstorm of extraordinary violence. The place had 
l)een denuded of trees and, lacking their protection, 
the old cottage was racked and cracked by the 
ferocious wind beyond any possibility of restoration 
or repair. It was now become a real danger to the 
workmen and to everybody who approached it. Mr. 
Crossley, first obtaining authority from the officers of 
the Clul), with the aid of "Tommy" O'Neill, the track 
master, and two or three others, carefully encircled the 
structure with heavy ropes and with a mighty all- 
together pull and heave, hurled it down, crumbling as 
it fell, into the cellar below. There on the identical 
spot where the cottage of David Burnes arose into 
being, it found burial. 

This: 
(From the Washington Ercninij Star. W'ax 24, 1894.) 

"Davy P.urnes' cottage, which has withstood the 
storms since 1748, is no more. It was torn down ves- 



15 



THE COTTAGE OF DA J' ID B U R N E S 

terday by order of those engaged in laying out the 
Cokimbia Athletic Club's new grounds. In spite of 
its apparently dilapidated condition, the structure re- 
quired the most forcible handling .to demolish. Down 
to the lowest brick in the foundation, strong and 
united efforts of the workmen were required to level 
it. It was allowed to stand until the last moment, 
in the hope that it would not interfere with the various 
fields, but the necessity for its demolition became im- 
perative. The venerators of things historical cannot 
but regret its destruction. It was the home until his 
death of one of the original proprietors of the ground 
on which Washington stands. Of all the men General 
Washington came into contact with during his event- 
ful career, Davy Burnes, he is said to have declared, 
was the most obstinate. His Scotch nature bowed 
to none. He lived a Czar on his great tract, allowing 
not even the foremost man in the country to oppose 
him. The cottage was situated in \ anNess Park, near 
the foot of Seventeenth Street." 

The writer of this visited the cottage only once. It 
was in the autumn of 1893 when workmen were busy 
upon the new grounds. Curiosity seekers and relic 
hunters were daily visitors, but I can testify from 
personal observation that there was, in or about the 
cottage at that time, absolutely nothing of value with 
the possible exception of the antiquated mantel in the 
dining-room, which, after a century and a quarter of 
use, was woefully the worse for wear. I had been 
President of the Clul) and readily obtained permission 



IT) 



AND ITS DINING-ROOM MANTEL 

to remove the old ornament for preservation, thus pre- 
venting its destruction by someone else for firewood. 
I sent it to a well-known local firm of dealers in fur- 
niture with instructions to clean and renovate it, but 
on no account to undertake to restore it. This was 
done and from 1893 to 1915, a period of twenty-two 
years, the old mantel found in the high and dry cellar 
of my house a refuge from destruction in the cellar 
of Davy's house. The foreman of the shop in which 
it was cleaned told me that in the cleansing process 
he removed from it three coats of paint, one of drab, 
another of pea-green, and a third of light yellow 
approaching white, before reaching the original native 
wood. 

In the year last named I made of it a present to 
our Society and it now has place among your 
muniments. 

Some statistics of the old mantel follow : Material, 
Virginia pine; height, 63 inches; length of shelf, 80 
inches; width of shelf, 8 inches; height of opening for 
lircplacc, 44 inches; width of the same, 57 inches. Of 
it has Ijeen said, after personal inspection jjy one of our 
best informed dealers in antiques, that according to 
its design "it was probably made between the years 
1760 and 1800; natural pine color has been restored; 
has the 'Greek key' colonial moulding which shows 
the mantel to have been made by hand ; head-piece is 
mortised into the side of the uprights; all the nails 
fastening it to the wall were handmade. While show- 
ing much use it is in a good state of preservation." 



17 



THE COTTAGE OF DAVID BURNES 



The legend on the plate of solid silver which identi- 
fies it follows : 



ii'Hiijii).i'iBiijiii.»i'«iiii>'HjHiin 



'^im^mmmmmmmmmm^sM^ms^mmmmf^^ 



'««r 



-TntrinintroiriTinn i iiww ii n » "ltiirniw-i nwnnwr n^ | 



nao. 

THK^MANTEIIi 

QneDfThe Oi^iBiNALPF\QPf^iETORS OfThe Land 
Whei^eqn IsTheCittOfWashinstdn . 



C/ '^ ,| 



11905 



Here ends a chronicle of the life, death and hurial 
of the cottage of David Burnes, "The Oldest House in 
Washington," and of the rescue and preservation of 
its last remaining ornament, its dining-room mantel. 



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